Case Study Description of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App
After a successful career as Chairman and CEO of Paris-based luxury food company, Fauchon, Laurent Adamowicz, sought to reduce obesity and improve health outcomes. Adamowicz created a mobile application to provide consumers with more accessible and interpretable knowledge about the food they were eating so they could make better decisions. Despite Adamowicz's focus on promoting healthful and informed eating habits, many choices still lay ahead of him in deciding how to develop a platform and database, the type of business model that would best support his goals, and the types of collaboration and marketing techniques that would get his idea off the ground. Since 2010, Laurent Adamowicz evolved his concept for a mechanism that acted as a "nutritionist in your pocket" into Bon'App, a fully formed nutrition database and nutritional educational platform. After multiple iterations of the app design and revenue model, Bon'App began to see encouraging results with an increased user base and usage. Adamowicz's venture was accepted into a prominent Boston-based accelerator, attracted outside capital, added team members and attracted its first paying corporate client. Despite the progress made Adamowicz knew that his start-up remained in a fragile state. He wondered if he would be able to maintain the flexibility needed to capitalize on new opportunities while staying true to his mission to create a new standard for nutritional information.
Swot Analysis of "Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz, Patricia Bissett Higgins includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Adamowicz Bon'app facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Health, IT, Mobile and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Adamowicz Bon'app, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Adamowicz Bon'app operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Adamowicz Bon'app
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Adamowicz Bon'app
Strengths Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Adamowicz Bon'app in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Adamowicz Bon'app has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Adamowicz Bon'app to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Adamowicz Bon'app digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Adamowicz Bon'app has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Adamowicz Bon'app has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Adamowicz Bon'app are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Adamowicz Bon'app
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Adamowicz Bon'app does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Adamowicz Bon'app is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Adamowicz Bon'app has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Adamowicz Bon'app has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Analytics focus
– Adamowicz Bon'app is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz, Patricia Bissett Higgins can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Adamowicz Bon'app to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Adamowicz Bon'app to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Adamowicz Bon'app has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Adamowicz Bon'app is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Adamowicz Bon'app in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Adamowicz Bon'app in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Adamowicz Bon'app products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Adamowicz Bon'app needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Adamowicz Bon'app supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Adamowicz Bon'app vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Adamowicz Bon'app is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App, is just above the industry average. Adamowicz Bon'app needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz, Patricia Bissett Higgins suggests that, Adamowicz Bon'app is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Adamowicz Bon'app 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Adamowicz Bon'app has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Adamowicz Bon'app has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Adamowicz Bon'app has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Adamowicz Bon'app even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Adamowicz Bon'app has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Opportunities Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Adamowicz Bon'app to increase its market reach. Adamowicz Bon'app will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Adamowicz Bon'app has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Adamowicz Bon'app to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study. Adamowicz Bon'app can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Adamowicz Bon'app can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Adamowicz Bon'app can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Adamowicz Bon'app is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Adamowicz Bon'app has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Adamowicz Bon'app to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Manufacturing automation
– Adamowicz Bon'app can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Adamowicz Bon'app to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Adamowicz Bon'app to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Adamowicz Bon'app can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Adamowicz Bon'app in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Adamowicz Bon'app can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Adamowicz Bon'app can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Threats Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Adamowicz Bon'app can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Adamowicz Bon'app can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Adamowicz Bon'app can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Environmental challenges
– Adamowicz Bon'app needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Adamowicz Bon'app can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Adamowicz Bon'app in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Adamowicz Bon'app with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Adamowicz Bon'app needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Adamowicz Bon'app is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Adamowicz Bon'app will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Adamowicz Bon'app in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Adamowicz Bon'app needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App, Adamowicz Bon'app may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Adamowicz Bon'app needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
